WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 30, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is encouraging the commercial real estate industry to participate in the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Earth Hour 2015. To take part in the annual initiative, WWF asks individuals, businesses, organizations and governments around the world to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour at 8:30pm local time on Saturday, March 28, 2015. The aim of Earth Hour is to visibly demonstrate a dedication to creating a sustainable future for the planet, and it provides commercial building owners and managers a prime opportunity to showcase their commitment to energy conservation.
“BOMA International is proud to support Earth Hour as part of its continued leadership in the area of sustainability in commercial real estate,” said BOMA International Chair John G. Oliver, BOMA Fellow, managing principal for Oliver & Company. “Earth Hour provides an excellent opportunity for our industry to demonstrate its strong commitment to energy management practices.”
BOMA International has a rich history of helping building owners and managers reduce energy use and implement sustainable operational best practices. In 2007, BOMA International launched the 7-Point Challenge, which asked members to reduce energy consumption by 30 percent by 2012. In 2011, BOMA launched the BOMA STARS campaign to promote the importance of benchmarking energy consumption in commercial buildings through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager. These two efforts demonstrated the effectiveness of voluntary reductions in energy consumption in the marketplace without costly new mandates.
BOMA published the industry’s first commercial lease guide for promoting energy efficient and sustainable building operations, now in its second edition, which includes enforceable lease language to ensure tenants comply with a building’s green priorities. BOMA also partnered with the Clinton Climate Initiative to develop the groundbreaking BOMA Energy Performance Contract (BEPC) model, which allows building owners to perform major energy retrofits to existing buildings by removing key barriers. EPA has awarded BOMA International with the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award, most recently in 2014, for its continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. ?It was the seventh ENERGY STAR award for BOMA, which remains the only commercial real estate association to have received this recognition. In 2009, BOMA International also received the Climate Protection Award, EPA’s highest honor.
This is the sixth consecutive year that BOMA International has supported Earth Hour, which started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. A year later, Earth Hour became a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries and territories participating. In 2014, more than 7,000 cities and towns in more than 160 countries and territories around the globe took part in the event. Read more about Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org.
For more information on BOMA International’s green initiatives, visit www.boma.org/sustainability.
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About BOMA International
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International is a federation of 91 BOMA U.S. associations and 17 international affiliates. Founded in 1907, BOMA represents the owners and managers of all commercial property types including 10.4 billion square feet of U.S. office space that supports 1.8 million jobs and contributes $227.6 billion to the U.S. GDP. Its mission is to advance a vibrant commercial real estate industry through advocacy, influence and knowledge. Learn more at www.boma.org.
Contact
Jessica Bates
Manager of Communications & Marketing
BOMA International
(202) 326-6348
